The Effects of Trustworthiness Manipulations on Trustworthiness Perceptions and Risk-Taking Behaviors

Mayer et al.'s (1995) model of trust comprises three trustworthiness factors: ability, integrity, and benevolence. The purpose of the current research was to empirically test the trust process by isolating the effects of trustworthiness and correcting the shortcomings of extant trust research. We experimentally manipulated performance/ability-, morality/integrity-, and consideration/benevolence-based trust violations and measured trust-related criteria (i.e., trustworthiness perceptions and risk-taking behaviors). We found all three manipulations had significant effects on these relevant criteria. Interestingly, the performance-based trust violation had the strongest effect on all criteria. Additionally, there were no significant differences between the morality- or consideration-based trust violations on any of the criteria. Post hoc analyses of both the manipulations and correlations of trustworthiness perceptions (self-report) indicate ability manipulations demonstrated divergent validity from integrity and benevolence manipulations, but integrity and benevolence indicated convergent validity with each other. Results partially support the Mayer et al.'s (1995) model of trust.